Maurico – “I Am Maurico”

Nashville…. It’s more than just country music!

When asking anyone in the general population what Nashville is all about and chances are they’ll say it’s the “Country Music” capitol. What people don’t tend to realize is that Nashville is home to all of the Big Four record labels of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI Group and a slew of independent labels which control approximately 88% of the market today, thus making “Music City” the leader in industry related trend setters.

Then ask Maurico what Nashville is all about and watch the sparks of life that ignite in his eyes as he tells you all about his HOME! He’ll explain that while most people look at just the country aspect of the area and continue on to excitedly fill you in on all you’re missing as his hometown extends outwards to include many different genres outside country.

Along with all things Nashville, the native Maurico’s music is heavily reliant upon live instrumentation rather than strictly programmed beats. Where many artists have made use of instrumentals created by others, Maurico’s thought process is organic instruments bring a form of vibration and life to the music. An industry where many say something is missing, or the art form has diminished in some ways, Maurico is trying to retain some of the old-school recording styles that draws people in and allows them to “feel” it better.

However, the first song to release from his debut album is titled “City Come Alive” (Music Video released on Aug. 12) where he raps about everything uniquely Nashville and boasts about “turning up” in the city. There are four more songs that make up this track listing, “Undeniable” is a smooth sounding ballad, while “All The Way” is energetic lends itself to the get-up-and-groove crowd. Then there’s “Hip Hop Architect” that adds a swanky southern aire to a dance enticing funk, this is followed by an early 90’s Dre/Cube style easy listening, R&B sounding “Reckless and Dangerous”.

Behind the madness though, “All the Way” came about as a kinda fluke, where Maurico was given a track containing a chorus and asked to write some verses for it. Once everything was said and done, the track that was intended to be featured on another album was decidedly going to be on his OWN album instead. “Hip Hop Architect” is one of Maurico’s own creations that he re-visited, revised, restored, and beautified by building on to an already picture perfect piece. While “Reckless & Dangerous” is a story of sorts, a trip down memory lane which was created as a means of voicing feelings as they pertained to the challenges and circumstances he faced growing up. The message in “Undeniable” is deliberately saying don’t sweat the small stuff to women, it’s meant to say life your life for all it’s worth I’ll be here for you to protect you for the beautiful woman you are knowing everything can be gone in a flash. Now we’ve gone full circle and are back to “City Come Alive” which was designed to be colorful and enlightening, encouraging people to have fun and get involved, uplifting and motivating people to take notice.